So, who will compensate me for all that now? I don’t know if Nigeria can ever get it right again,” he said. “I know the long queues I endured at the bank, the hours I wasted finding petrol for my car. But I am so heartbroken to see that my sufferings was in vain. I had so much hoped that the election may probably be the first free and fair process we would have. This government made us suffer so much with this naira redesign. “I have given up on Nigeria”, Samuel Itodo, an Abuja-based accountant, cried. They had high expectations that 2023 elections would birth a leadership the that would salvage the country from the economic and political woes, but their hopes appears to have gone out the window due to the election process which several stakeholders and observers described as a flawed. Millions of Nigerians lament that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration failed to alleviate their plight. Poverty and unemployment have been identified as major contributors to mental health imbalance in Nigeria. The present unemployment rate in the country put at 33 percent. Available statistics show that the number of Nigerians living in poverty rose by 35 million in 2022.ĭata from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (2022) also reveals that 133 million Nigerians were multi-dimensionally poor, representing 63 percent of the country’s population.Īvailable statistics also show that the country’s inflation rate increased to 21 percent in 2022, compared with an average of 10.6 percent for emerging and developing economies and 8.8 percent for the world. Prior to the elections and other difficulties suffered during the period, Nigeria’s socio-economic and political conditions have deteriorated, plunging citizens into untold hardship. He urged stakeholders and government to develop implementable measures to stop the problem from escalating.Īisha Bubah, a Psychologist, also agreed that the recent harsh economic and political traumas have serious negative impact on the mental health of Nigerians with concerns that the numbers could go up. The expert urged Nigerians to pay very close attention to their mental well-being. We are seeing Nigerians being directly impacted. There is no strata of the society that is left out. “This is clearly seen in the level of anxiety and panic attack that people are exhibiting across the country both in rural and urban areas. He said the stress, anxiety and uncertainty endured during the election process the naira and fuel scarcity have aggravated the causative factors than can impact mental health. Already, no fewer than 60 million Nigerians are suffering from mental illness according to the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigerians (APN).Ī mental health expert, Ameh Abba, founder of the Mandate Health Empowerment Initiative, and convener, Africa Mental Health Reforms Consortium (AMHEC), described the situation as alarming. This was aggravated by the fuel scarcity, the untold hardship fuelled by high cost of goods and political tension which is already taking a toll on the sanity of Nigerians.Īs a consequence, mental health experts said psychiatrist cases, mental health problems will surge in the country. Nigerians were made to endure harrowing experiences since the Central Bank of Nigeria redesigned the N1,000, N500 and N200 notes. This is same situation for many citizens who spoke to BusinessDay.
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